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Assault with a Deadly Glue Gun by Lois Winston |
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| (Midnight Ink, $14.95, NV) ISBN 978-0-7387-2347-1 | |
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| The cozy title of this mystery belies the madcap but tough-as-nails, no holds barred plot and main character. Anastasia Pollock is the recently widowed craft editor of North Jersey based American Woman magazine and is shocked when she gets a call that her husband (who died at a roulette table in Vegas) owes money to everyone, including the mob, and has gambled away his, and Anastasia's life savings and their sons' college funds. It is hard to believe that someone who appears to be as on the ball as Anastasia didn't see this coming.
Coping with her new life as a widow, adjusting to the things she didn't know about her husband, the reality of having no money, her oddball mother-in-law living with her, her sons and her job, the last thing Anastasia needs is to become a murder suspect. When the fashion editor, Marlys Vandenburg is murdered and a photograph of Marlys and Anastasia's husband turns up, the police set their sights on her. But there is no shortage of people who hated Marlys; all Anastasia has to do is figure out which one did the fashionista in. Overall, this is a funny first mystery, though it is over the edge sometimes, such as the cops named Batswin and Robbins, and Anastasia's whacky mother-in-law. Three break-ins is a little bit hard to believe, but it gives Anastasia's hunky upstairs tenant plenty of chances to help out. When Anastasia's mother and her uppity cat show up things at the house go from bad to worse.
A fast-paced, sometimes slapstick mystery that is a step above the usual crafty cozy.
--Jennifer Monahan Winberry |
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